El Paso Independent School District trustees on Tuesday tapped a former school administrator to temporarily lead the district after Interim Superintendent Terri Jordan stepped down to focus on her family.

Trustees appointed Ken George, who retired from the district as an associate superintendent in 1997, as temporary interim superintendent for the district, which has been staggered by a cheating scandal.

George, who lives in El Paso, starts the job today and will earn $75 an hour. He will work for at least a couple of weeks until the district appoints an interim superintendent.

Reporter Hayley Kappes

George said he is proud of the El Paso school district and called it a "solid place."

"If you have one problem, it makes everybody else look bad, so the thing we want to do is do away with those problems and then take care of the issues and make sure that every child is getting a good education," George said.

On Saturday, Jordan told the board she wanted to return to her previous job as the district's chief of staff because working as interim superintendent had put a strain on her family obligations.

"Serving in my current role has taken, as you can imagine, a toll in my ability to prioritize my time in meeting my personal responsibilities," Jordan said. "I believe I can successfully serve EPISD as chief of staff while keeping those personal responsibilities a priority."

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She immediately left the boardroom after the meeting adjourned, taking no questions from reporters.

Jordan's salary will revert to what she earned as chief of staff, which was $130,443 a year, according to reports in the El Paso Times archives. As interim superintendent, Jordan was paid $180,000 a year.

Jordan undertook leading the district after her former boss, Lorenzo García, was arrested in August 2011 on public-corruption charges that centered on a $450,000 no-bid contract he steered to his mistress.

García has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. One charge stems from the contract, and the other is related to García's devising a cheating scheme to artificially increase student scores on state-mandated exams at struggling schools.

García and six unindicted co-conspirators carried out the scheme by forcing some students out of school, preventing others from enrolling, denying foreign transfer students their proper credits and altering transcripts to bump ninth-graders to the 11th grade.

Federal accountability measures are based on 10th-grade, state-mandated assessments.

Jordan has refused to answer questions about her knowledge of administrators cheating on accountability standards and whether she did anything to intervene.

If more administrators are indicted, the Texas Education Agency would consider that in determining whether to revoke the district's accreditation, which would essentially dissolve the district, an agency spokeswoman has said.

School board President Isela Castañon-Williams said the district is relying on federal authorities to identify anyone else who was involved in the cheating.

"None of the investigative agencies have shared any information concerning any individual names or given any type of information that would give a clue as to where these people are located," Castañon-Williams said. "At this point, we can only continue to work with particularly the FBI and wait for them to finish their investigation."

She said the board will not hire from within the district for an interim superintendent and is seeking possibly a retired superintendent who is available for temporary work.

Trustees are carrying on with plans to hire a search firm to find permanent superintendent candidates and are aiming to fill the position by early 2013, Castañon-Williams said.

This is the second time George has temporarily led the district.

When former Superintendent Estanislado "Stan" Paz resigned in 1998, the school board appointed George as interim superintendent, a job he held for about a year until the district hired Gilberto Anzaldua.

He also worked as interim superintendent at the Clint Independent School District for six months in 2002.

After retiring, George helped a struggling school district in a state-appointed role.

In 2001, the Texas Education Agency assigned George as a master at the Ysleta Independent School District after the school board had become paralyzed by infighting, conducting little business at its meetings.

As master, George had power to overrule decisions by the school board and superintendent.

"After about a year with them, once they got out of it, Ysleta's one of the finest districts," George said. "They have a few problems just like everybody else, but it's not centered in on like El Paso."

Hayley Kappes may be reached at hkappes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6168.

In other action

The board voted 4-2 to post all of its backup material for agenda items online at least 48 hours before scheduled meetings.

All backup information will be available, except when it deals with discussions scheduled for closed meetings or agenda items that involve employee or student information.